More than seven months after the start of the war, which has yet to achieve its declared objectives of crushing the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and freeing more than a hundred abductees, his announcement today deepens divisions within the Israeli leadership over their October 7 attack on Israeli territory.
Gantz proposed a six-point plan, including the repatriation of hostages, an end to Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, demilitarization of the Palestinian Authority, and the creation of an international civil affairs administration. The plan also calls for efforts to normalize Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia.
If his proposal is not accepted by June 8, he says he will step down from the Israeli administration.
Benny Gantz, a centrist politician and longtime political opponent of Netanyahu, joined his coalition government and war cabinet in the early days of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
His departure would leave Netanyahu dependent on his far-right allies, who have taken a tough line on negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage releases, and believe Israel should occupy Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements there.
On October 7 last year, Israel declared a war on the Gaza Strip to “destroy” the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, and then, hours earlier, launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory, killing more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – which has been in power in Gaza since 2007 and is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel – also took 252 hostages, of whom 124 remain in captivity and 37 are dead. The most recent balance of the Israeli army.
The war, which entered its 225th day today and continues to threaten to spread across the Middle East region, has so far killed 35,386 people in the Gaza Strip, injured more than 79,000 and left nearly 10,000 missing. According to updated figures from local authorities, mostly civilians.
The conflict has displaced nearly two million people, plunging the overpopulated and impoverished Palestinian Territory into an acute humanitarian crisis, with more than 1.1 million people suffering from “catastrophic hunger conditions” — “the highest number ever recorded by the UN in its assessment of world food security.”